Climate Change Will Hit Florida Hard Over the Next 85 years

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Afterrnoon T-storm approaches Miami, photo by Marc Averette/Wikicommons

By Rob Lorei

 

Today on Radioactivity, Host Rob Lorei looks at the economic and health risks of climate change on the U.S. southeast. A report released by bi-partisan group Risky Business claims that if rising temperatures continue at the current rate, it will stymie current economic growth and agricultural gains, and lead to an increase in heat-related deaths. For Florida, which stands to lose the most property than any other state, that could mean an annual property loss average of over $1.3 Billion by 2030. The projected increase in the annual number of extreme heat days  could lead to over 5,080 heat deaths by 2050,  the most affected being the elderly and poor who cannot afford adequate air-conditioning. We talk to Al Sommer,former chair of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University and co-chair of Risk Business, about the report’s findings.

2 Responses to “Climate Change Will Hit Florida Hard Over the Next 85 years”

  1. Grace Carlson

    Rob, I was just about to send you an email when I saw this. I am pursuing an MBA in Sustainable Systems from a deep green grad school in the Pacific NW (I live in SRQ and commute monthly for in-person classes). I am participating in a study abroad next week as part of my studies – in Cuba. Their resiliency, resourcefulness and sustainability progress are quite remarkable and may well offer us best practice examples since we have so many geographic similarities in common. If you would be interested in having me write up a summary of takeaways and learnings + photos for a blog post &/or talking with me upon my return, please let me know.

    Reply
  2. Alex

    Dear Rob,

    Short time listener, first time commenter. I am writing to comment on some of listener responses to the show on Tuesday July 28, 2015 about the economic and health effects human caused climate change will have on Florida as well as to comment on some of the other climate related discussions you have had on the show.

    The Dominate Social Paradigm states that our society has a faith in technology to solve the problem of climate change I am suspect of this faith. Riley Dunlap is the authority on the DSP if you have further interest. If we look at what has caused climate change it has been technology. So why do we have such blind faith in it? While alternative energy sources are apart of the solution to mitigating the effects of climate change I am not convinced that they are the only part. I think that a change in our hyper-consumptive behavior will also have to occur and is the most necessary aspect of the solution. Unfortunately, I think that the behavioral change will come more slowly than implementation of clean energy. Thoughts? Are people capable of rapid behavioral change?

    Sincerely,
    Alex

    Reply

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